Former Syrian Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam criticized the international community for agreeing to continue the Geneva conferences, arguing that “Geneva 3” will not produce a roadmap and will be like its predecessors, enabling the Assad regime to continue its crimes against the Syrian people, including murder, siege, and starvation. He emphasized that the conference will not yield serious solutions.
Khaddam stated in a statement to “Al-Watan” in Saudi Arabia that the Geneva conferences deliberately avoided addressing the root cause of the Syrian crisis, remaining ambiguous. He exempted the Saudi stance, previously declared by Prince Saud al-Faisal and currently by Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, stating that Assad must leave either through political means or by military intervention.
Khaddam added that some believe Russia’s goal is to establish naval and air bases, but he argued, “This is not true at all. Russian military bases in Syria have existed since 1976 and are not used at all. Moscow’s real goal is to change the equation aiming to keep Assad in power.” He pointed out that in these circumstances, the future outlook suggests a deterioration in Syria, and the country is heading towards a catastrophe similar to what happened in Palestine. He emphasized that preparations for this catastrophe are currently underway, involving the division of Syria into provinces.
Khaddam stated that Russia’s ambitions in Syria are significant and won’t be ended by an international conference. He explained that Russia sometimes uses the Assad regime and at other times uses Iran. Both Russia and Iran have expansionist ambitions in the Arab region and will thwart any project that distances Assad because their plans are contingent on his staying in power.
